Escort vs. Sweep vs. Long Range CAP

[WiTP_Dude]

Which one of these do I use to fly fighters on patrol above my bases or carriers? I believe Escort is only used to protect bombers, otherwise the fighters stay on the ground. What is the difference between Sweep and LRC though?

[Fallschirmjager]

Escort is for escorting bombers. You will see something called CAP level. This is the % of fighters you want providing CAP above your base.
Sweep is to send fighters out to strafe enemy airfields. It also has a CAP level.
Long Rong CAP auto sets CAP level to 100% and provide CAP above your own convoys up to several hexes away.

Hope this helps.

[Xargun]

ORIGINAL: WiTP_Dude

Which one of these do I use to fly fighters on patrol above my bases or carriers? I believe Escort is only used to protect bombers, otherwise the fighters stay on the ground. What is the difference between Sweep and LRC though?

Fighters on normal CAP will protect the base and to a lesser degree things around it up to 2 hexes (I think).. LRCAP allows you to station fighters at a certain location (or TF) for as long as they are within range. Very good idea when sending TFs into enemy air cover when you don't have a CV to send with them.

This has saved several of my Transport TF near Malaya when Singapore belches forth its aircraft.

Xargun

[Onime No Kyo]

Pick one, any one. No matter which one you pick, there will be a "CAP Level" clicker below the mission types.

[WiTP_Dude]

Yes, but if you have an escort CAP, will those fighters automatically engage enemy fighters when they come into an area? Or will they look to protect non-existent bombers?

[Xargun]

ORIGINAL: WiTP_Dude

Yes, but if you have an escort CAP, will those fighters automatically engage enemy fighters when they come into an area? Or will they look to protect non-existent bombers?

Escort CAP ? Please clarify

Xargun

[WiTP_Dude]

Escort mission with a CAP level of some percentage.

[hithere]

if i understand correctly and from UV.....the percentage of CAP is left behind...ie; 10 fighters and escort and 50% CAP..5 fighters escort 5 stay at the base (this is with no modifiers)

[Xargun]

ORIGINAL: WiTP_Dude

Escort mission with a CAP level of some percentage.

OK... Lets say you have 30 Zeros set to escort with 30% set to CAP. What this means is that 21 of the Zeros will fly the escort mission while 9 (30%) will sit at home flying CAP.. It lets you get twice the usefulness out of larger groups of fighters.

Xargun

[hithere]

ORIGINAL: Xargun

ORIGINAL: WiTP_Dude

Escort mission with a CAP level of some percentage.

OK... Lets say you have 30 Zeros set to escort with 30% set to CAP. What this means is that 21 of the Zeros will fly the escort mission while 9 (30%) will sit at home flying CAP.. It lets you get twice the usefulness out of larger groups of fighters.

Xargun

sorry Xargun, wasn't looking at the times of the post

[Xargun]

I think we posted at the same time [;)]

Xargun

[WiTP_Dude]

ORIGINAL: Xargun

OK... Lets say you have 30 Zeros set to escort with 30% set to CAP. What this means is that 21 of the Zeros will fly the escort mission while 9 (30%) will sit at home flying CAP.. It lets you get twice the usefulness out of larger groups of fighters.

So the mission and CAP are two different things? I was thinking they were related. Thanks for your help, I need to change some settings then.

[Mr.Frag]

For those that don't want to read the manual: [:'(]

Escort = Planes that fly along with Bombers to protect them. No Bombers fly, no Escort flies.

Sweep = Planes that fly to a target and attempt to engage CAP at the target. Low Altitudes will result in strafing of the runway.

CAP = Planes that fly over their own base to protect it. They can wander into hexes beside their base if not busy.

LR-CAP = Identical to CAP, but fly over a specific destination instead of their own base.

Add a little complication to this:

Aircraft that are not ordered to do something else will join the CAP if the base is attacked, but they rely on early warning (radar/sound detection) to take off and climb to intercept the attackers.

[Banquet]

Soooo.. does that mean that a squadron set an escort mission with 30% CAP will leave 30% back at base to fly CAP.. or, does it mean that 30% of the squadron will fly escort and the other 70% rest?

I seem to remember from UV (been a while) that setting CAP 40% meant 40% of the squadron were on standing CAP while the rest rotated (and rested) but the concept here of setting an escort mission, with a percentage CAP is a tad confusing.

[Tanaka]

ORIGINAL: Mr.Frag

For those that don't want to read the manual: [:'(]

Escort = Planes that fly along with Bombers to protect them. No Bombers fly, no Escort flies.

Sweep = Planes that fly to a target and attempt to engage CAP at the target. Low Altitudes will result in strafing of the runway.

CAP = Planes that fly over their own base to protect it. They can wander into hexes beside their base if not busy.

LR-CAP = Identical to CAP, but fly over a specific destination instead of their own base.

Add a little complication to this:

Aircraft that are not ordered to do something else will join the CAP if the base is attacked, but they rely on early warning (radar/sound detection) to take off and climb to intercept the attackers.

ok so which is better if i want my fighters to attack an airfield???

sweep or airfield attack???

[Mr.Frag]

ok so which is better if i want my fighters to attack an airfield???

sweep or airfield attack???

That really depends on whether there is CAP protecting the airfield you want to attack. If you send them as airfield attack, then you better send some *escort*.

[Mr.Frag]

ORIGINAL: Banquet

Soooo.. does that mean that a squadron set an escort mission with 30% CAP will leave 30% back at base to fly CAP.. or, does it mean that 30% of the squadron will fly escort and the other 70% rest?

I seem to remember from UV (been a while) that setting CAP 40% meant 40% of the squadron were on standing CAP while the rest rotated (and rested) but the concept here of setting an escort mission, with a percentage CAP is a tad confusing.

Huh? What? Eeek!

Who said anything about rest? Where'd that one come from? Rest is what you do after being KIA [X(][:'(][X(]

READ READ READ! [:D]

[Tanaka]

ORIGINAL: Mr.Frag

ok so which is better if i want my fighters to attack an airfield???

sweep or airfield attack???

That really depends on whether there is CAP protecting the airfield you want to attack. If you send them as airfield attack, then you better send some *escort*.

so if i send some on sweep and some on airfield attack the ones on sweep will escort? is this what you mean? why not just send them all on sweep and they will escort themselves and attack the airfield.

[Banquet]

hehe. ok, back to the manual for me!

[tsimmonds]

ORIGINAL: Banquet

Soooo.. does that mean that a squadron set an escort mission with 30% CAP will leave 30% back at base to fly CAP.. or, does it mean that 30% of the squadron will fly escort and the other 70% rest?

I seem to remember from UV (been a while) that setting CAP 40% meant 40% of the squadron were on standing CAP while the rest rotated (and rested) but the concept here of setting an escort mission, with a percentage CAP is a tad confusing.

An squadron with an Escort mission with CAP set at 30% will fly 30% of its planes on CAP over its own base. The other 70% will either:
1) be available to fly Escort for strike missions against targets within its range (note: there is no guarantee that they actually will do so, they are available to do so), or
2) if no such missions exist, the remaining 70% will rest

CAP is set exactly as it was in UV, by picking an Escort mission and adjusting the CAP percentage. No change.